


Nobody Special

by lanalucy



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Angst, Community: bsg_epics, Community: hc_bingo, Cross-Posted on LiveJournal, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Memories, Romance, Secrets, Skeletons In The Closet, guilty sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-01-10 19:06:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1163373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Theme: write somebody else's headcanon.<br/>Prompt: Zak was using Kara to pass basic flight. (kdbleu)</p><p>Thanks to newnumbertwo for the beta on the continuation chapters!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for hc_bingo square 9: skeletons in the closet

Even though they spent nearly all their downtime together, Zak had resisted keeping any of his stuff at Kara’s place. He’d spend the night, often, but always took his dirty clothes and his ditty bag back to his dorm room when he left, unless she’d already put his clothes in the washer.

At first, she’d thought maybe he was just trying to keep up appearances. While their relationship wasn’t expressly forbidden by any regulations, Fleet higher-ups would frown on her sleeping with one of her students. So she told herself he was just trying to be careful - avoid any appearance of impropriety.

He never complained when she wanted to get out by herself, always quick to tell her he had a study group he’d been meaning to check out, or he wanted to get some extra SIM time with a classmate. He was so easygoing, she almost thought he was too good to be true, especially after all the stuff her mother had told her all her life.

The only time there was even the remotest hint of something off was when his grades weren’t what he expected. The first time she remembered, it had been about another class, and he’d complained for a good half hour about how the instructor wasn’t being fair, didn’t like him, wasn’t teaching what he was testing on. Kara had tried to placate him, but still make it clear that he wouldn’t be getting any special treatment from her just because they were lovers. 

He said all the right things, reassured her that in her class he wanted to be just another student. And she forgot about the conversation for a long time.

They had dinner with his brother, and Zak had said and done all the right things, and now she wondered if the way things had been with Lee had been some kind of sign that what she had with Zak wasn’t right. She’d felt connected to Lee in a way she’d never felt with Zak, no matter how good things were. Maybe she should have paid more attention to that, been less blinded by Zak’s pretty smile and perfect words.

He’d passed his flight quals - barely - and only because she fudged his scores on two maneuvers, but he’d passed. Things had been really great after that. Until the day she’d come home to a note on her door: _I’ll see you around, Kara. Thanks for getting me my wings._ And everything changed.

Now when she looked at this apartment, everything was overlaid with deceit and false promises and recriminations. When Zak had trapped her against the counter and frakked her within an inch of her life, had he wanted her, or was he using the tactic that would keep her under his control? When he’d told her how wrong her mother was about her, had he secretly agreed with Socrata? Had every good thing he’d ever said about her been a lie? 

Kara wondered all these things as she closed the door for the last time, dropping the keys into the office mailbox. She’d leave almost everything behind to go to her new, tiny, crappy apartment that held no memories of anything better, and forget she’d ever heard the name Adama.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She might be finished with the Adamas, but they're not finished with her.

Kara hung up the phone, her mind reeling. _Zak’s dead._ The Commandant’s admin had called her personally to give her the funeral details, along with the not-quite-an-order that as his most recent instructor, her presence was required. There’d been something in her voice...Kara thought maybe she’d known about her and Zak.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about him being dead. She was really angry at Zak - he’d been a complete asshole - but that didn’t make her love him any less. She wasn’t there yet.  
~~~~~~~~~~  
She stood at the back of the crowd at the cemetery. Lee was on the other side of the grave, with a woman Kara assumed was Zak’s mother. While she was looking at him, Lee looked up. He tilted his head, asking her some question, but she had no idea what.

As the priest ended the service, Kara began to back away, hoping to escape without engaging with any of Zak’s family. When she was far enough away, she turned on her heel and began to stride away. She heard someone calling behind her, but kept going. She particularly wanted to avoid Lee.

He caught up to her, though, his hand on her shoulder pulling her to a stop. 

“Kara, didn’t you hear me calling?”

She shook her head.

“Are you okay? Why weren’t you up front with the family?”

“Why would I be, Lieutenant? I’m not family. I was merely one of Cadet Adama’s instructors.”

“Lieutenant? Cadet? What the frak, Kara?” He turned at the rumble of a voice, then turned back to her. “I need to talk to you, Kara. I could stop by the apartment later.”

“Don’t bother, sir. I don’t live there anymore.”

“What? Why’d you move, Kara? Where’d you move to? Just give me your address, and I’ll come by as soon as I drop mom off at the house.”

Kara hand tightened into a fist, her pants leg crumpling inside it. “There’s nothing to talk about, sir.”

Lee stepped closer, and she backed up. She didn’t need this right now. Couldn’t Lee just leave? He looked around again, then turned back. “Gods, dad! Sorry, Kara. I’ll come find you later.”

He turned away and she said tiredly, “There’s really no need, Lieutenant. We have nothing to talk about.”

Lee shook his head and reiterated, “I’ll come find you,” and jogged back to his parents.

Kara got out of there as quickly as possible. She wanted to get out of this frakking uniform and find someplace to get drunk. Preferably someplace she’d never been with Zak or Lee. Maybe someplace she could frak some nobody in the alley. She needed to forget Zak Adama had ever existed.  
~~~~~~~~~~  
She sat in a shadowed booth in the back of the bar, ignoring everyone. She didn’t want to play pool or even get into a fight. She just wanted to drink until she was numb. Unfortunately, Lee managed to find her before she’d had her second shot. She saw him walk in the front door of the bar, and her jaw dropped. _How the frak? I know I’ve never been here with either of them._

He raised his hand to the bartender, walked toward the back corner and slid in opposite her.

“How’d you find me, sir?”

“What’s with the sir, Kara? I thought we were friends.”

She tossed back the shot and slammed the glass down on the table. “You can stop pretending, you know.”

“What am I pretending?”

“Frak off, Lee. I know why he was dating me. There’s no reason to keep trying to convince me of anything.”

Lee did that head-tilt thing, then said slowly, “I thought you guys liked each other. Why else would you be dating, for frak’s sake?”

“Gods, Lee! Do you have to rub it in? Why are you being this way?”

He reached across the table to grab her hand, and she didn’t pull back fast enough. He held her hand in both of his and looked directly into her eyes. “I thought I was being a friend, Kara. You’re my brother’s girlfriend.”

“No. I wasn’t. I was his ticket to passing Basic Flight, Once he did, he dumped me. Didn’t even bother to do it in person. Left a note on my front door for the whole godsdamn world to see. Don’t even try to make me believe that you didn’t know what he was doing.”

Lee squeezed her hand and tugged until she looked at him again. “If what you’re saying is true, I didn’t know. If I had, I would have stopped him. You know I would have.” He looked down, then back up. “Why the frak did he ask you to marry him? Gods, Kara. If I’d known how he felt, I would never have stopped that night on the table. I didn’t want to.”

Kara burned at his words. She hadn’t wanted Lee to stop either, and she’d felt guilty as hell about her attraction to him. She wondered if he was really telling the truth. “What about now?”

He sputtered. “Now? What about...you want to frak _now_?” His fingers had tightened on her hands as he said the words.

She quirked her brow.

“Why? Because you want me, or because you’re pissed at Zak?”

She shrugged. She knew, but maybe it didn’t matter.

“Kara.” He scooted toward the edge of the seat and stood, pulling her out of the booth. “I’m going to take you home. When you figure out if you actually want me, or just want to get back at Zak, call me.”

They stepped outside the door and she pointed to her truck, digging the keys out of her pocket as she walked. When they got to her truck, she turned and faced him. “I didn’t know about Zak that night, and I’m not the one who stopped us.” She turned and put the key in the lock.

She heard rustling and Lee pressed her into the truck door. Her breasts were smashed against the metal as he ground into her. “I’ll follow you home.”

She nodded once, pushed him away and climbed into her truck.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe if he made it good, she wouldn't curse the Adama name for the rest of her life.

Lee followed Kara’s truck, watching the neighborhood change from crappy to crappier, pondering the afternoon and Kara’s odd responses at the funeral. He still wasn’t sure why he’d gone down that particular street, or how he’d known that Kara would be in that particular bar. When she pulled up in front of a run-down but still decent building, he wondered why she’d moved here, why she’d moved at all. On her Fleet salary, she could afford better than this dump, and she'd had a great apartment.

She got out of her truck and walked toward her apartment without looking at him. He kept an eye on her until she got to her door, then found a space, locked his car and ran after her. She’d left the door open for him. When he closed it behind him, she said, “So, you want a beer and a sandwich, or you just wanna frak?”

“Kara…”

She shook her head, still looking down at the kitchen tiles. “We both wanted this, Lee, from the first time we met. Let’s not pretend it’s anything but what it is.”

He tried anyway. “Why’d you move here, Kara? You can afford better.”

“I’ve never lived here before. No memories of anything else. Besides, I’ve already been hearing noises about shipping me off someplace for a year - some crap about unfamiliar surroundings helping me deal with the trauma of losing a student. What they really mean is they don’t want me teaching anyone else if I’m gonna kill ‘em.”

“Kara, that’s not -”

“Doesn’t matter, Lee. I can live here. And if they send me someplace else, this place has a military clause, so I won’t be breaking the lease. So, you wanna frak, or what?”

He sighed. If this was the way Kara was going to be, he didn’t want to do it. He wanted the friendship he thought they’d been building. Not that he didn’t want to frak her, but he wanted it to mean something to her.

“It’s okay, Lee. I get it. I wasn’t good enough for Zak. I’m not good enough for you, not even good enough for a pity-frak. You want that beer?”

It finally clicked for him that this was her way of offering him that friendship. She wanted him to want the beer, to want to sit and talk to her. Maybe she wanted the frak, too, but she wanted the other first. “What do you have?” When he turned toward the kitchenette, he thought there was a tiny softening at the corner of her mouth.

He followed her to the kitchenette, and it amused him that the entire top shelf of the fridge was nothing but beer, and she had the makings for at least a week’s worth of sandwiches. Food and drink - in some ways, Kara was very simple, uncomplicated, but in others...Gods, she was the most complex woman he’d ever met.

Four beers later, he was feeling it; he’d dropped off his mother and gone after Kara, so he hadn’t eaten all day. When he asked, Kara pointed at the head - not like he couldn’t have found it; this apartment was tiny. When he came back, there was a sandwich in front of his chair. He hid the smile behind his hand and sat.

“Thanks, Kara. I was getting hungry.”

“Figured. You were weaving a little. Never could hold your drink worth a frak.” When he froze, teeth in his sandwich, eyes wide, Kara snorted. “What? I’m not givin’ you a pass because of what day it is.”

“Of course not,” he said around the food in his mouth.

“Why are you here, Lee? Why’d you come find me in the first place? I told you not to bother.”

He swallowed, took another sip of beer. “I thought we were friends, Kara. I wanted to be sure my friend was gonna be okay.”

“Well, you’ve seen it. ‘m fine.” She slouched in her chair, tipping the beer up to drain it. “We’re not friends, Lee. Guess we never were. It was all a big plot, and I was the idiot your brother picked to frak over.”

He put his sandwich down, frowning. He didn’t understand that - it wasn’t like the Zak he knew to use people.

“What? You don’t believe me? Still got the note. Kept it to remind myself never to be so stupid about a man again. I’ll stick with frakkin’ ‘em from now on.”

“Kara, I don’t know what Zak did, or why he did it, but my friendship, our friendship, was real. I’m not getting anything out of this.”

“But you want to. You’ve always wanted to. ‘less that was just about gettin’ in my pants because I was your brother’s girl. Maybe we just shouldn’t’ve stopped that night. Then we’d know, and you wouldn’t have had to bother today.”

Lee’s mouth was hanging open; he didn’t have any idea how to respond to that. Tell her he did want her, and play into her frakked up version of events, or insist on playing the gentleman, and never feel her fire consuming him. Neither felt right. “Never said I didn’t want you. You decided that you weren’t even good enough for a pity-frak. I just wanted to be your friend first.”

“I haven’t got time to be “friends” first, Lee. I’ll probably be gone inside of a month, shipped to some crap battlestar or remote weather station, and you’ll never see me again. You wanna frak me, this is your one and only chance.”

Lee gave up. Maybe if he at least made it good for her, she’d remember the Adama name without cursing it. “Can I at least finish my sandwich first? I really am hungry.” That got him an actual smile, small but real.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is your one and only chance.

Kara got up from the table, called “I’m hittin’ the head,” over her shoulder, and disappeared into the bedroom. He continued with the sandwich, chewing each bite thoroughly, his mind spinning madly for a way out. He finished the sandwich and frowned, wondering what was taking Kara so long. He upended the longneck, and movement in his peripheral vision made him turn his head. What little was left of the beer went down the front of his shirt, and Kara smiled faintly.

“Good to know.” She leaned against the doorjamb, her arms crossed under her naked breasts, one leg bent and jammed against the other.

“Know what?” Another drop hit him and he realized the bottle was still tilted down. He set it firmly down on the table. _Where’s your brilliant plan, Lee?_

She shrugged. “Might as well get to it, Adama.” She disappeared back around the doorway.

Lee stood, wavering between running to the bedroom _to frak Kara Thrace!_ and being the good guy she probably needed more.

“Last chance, Adama! If you’re not interested, I can find plenty who are.”

That decided it. Even if she needed him to be the good guy, he wasn’t letting her frak someone else in her grief. No telling how some stranger would take advantage of her. He pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it next to the empty bottle.

When he got to the bedroom, she was sitting on the edge of the bed, and he caught a look of almost vulnerability before she looked up at him. 

“How do you want to do this, Kara?”

She laughed, a broken, haunting sound that held no humor. “This really your first time, Lee, or you just wanna pretend it is?”

“Neither, Kara. Unless that’s what you need. Would it make you feel better about doing this?”

She stood, spitting the words right into his face. “I feel just fine about frakking you. Why should it bother me? Certainly won’t bother Zak.”

His brother’s name hung in the air between them, and his stomach clenched. Frak. How was he supposed to do this with her? Kara answered that question by sticking her fingers in the waist of his pants and pulling him toward her, sitting as he got closer.

She unbuttoned and unzipped him with an economy of motion that suggested she’d done this thousands of times, and the idea that he was just one in a multitude almost made him back away. It was only the thought of her frakking some nameless, faceless man, or men, that held him fast.

Her fingers curled into his briefs, where he lay soft and unaroused.

“Not feeling it, Lee? Do you need a little help to get it up? Wouldn’t have thought that’d be a problem at your age, but I guess it happens sooner for some guys than others.”

“Gods, Kara. Will you just stop? Just be here with me. With _me_ , in this room. Can you do that? Is that even possible for you?”

She shook her head, her expression overlaid with sadness and something else he couldn’t quite define. “I don’t know how. I don’t know anything.”

“What happened, Kara?”

She stood again, her hand tightening reflexively around his cock, a painful rather than pleasurable caress. “Zak happened. Zak happened, and then while I was still busy contemplating ways to murder him, he killed himself. That’s what happened, Lee.” She let him go and pushed him away. “Just get the frak out of here. You don’t want to be with me, anyway.” She turned toward the foot of the bed and bent to grab her sweats.

Lee yanked her around and kissed her, taking her mouth the way he’d often thought about taking her. She’d be able to handle him when he was in the mood for a fight-frak. She’d take his aggression and easily throw it back at him. Why hadn’t he met her first, for gods’ sake?

Her mouth moved under his, softening, opening to him. He relaxed the grip he had on her arms and she squeaked. She’d probably have bruises tomorrow. He wanted to be sorry about that, but there was a part of him that reveled in the image of Kara Thrace walking around with his marks on her.

Her arms lifted to his shoulders, one of his hands drifted to her side, flittering along her ribs to the side of her breast, flattened against his chest. “Mmm.” He pushed her away until she backed into the bed and fell. She scrambled away from the edge and he followed, one knee and then the other inside her thighs, a hand beside her waist, an arm beside her head. He kissed her again, letting his weight hold her in place, grinding his jeans into her a little when she spread her legs around his hips.

“Hmm.” She tilted her head and kissed him deeper, her nails digging in at his sides. He’d have marks tomorrow, too.

She broke away. “This is what you needed to -”

He covered her mouth with his, nibbled and sucked for a moment, then backed away. “This isn’t about me, Kara. This is about you. What do you need?”

He had the sense that she was being totally honest for the first time in a long time. “I need to forget. I need to feel something. I need to know that I’m -”

“You are.” He pushed his erection into her. “That is all about you.”

Her smile was weak. “Never exactly been a problem for me. That.”

“Maybe you should expect more, Kara. Expect a man to love you, and not just your body.”

“I’m done with love.” She squirmed underneath him. “You gonna talk me to death or are we gonna frak?”

He lowered his mouth to hers, blistered her lips with a kiss, pushed her face away and nibbled down her jaw. He found that place most women had under their ears, and he licked it, softening her up. When she was pushing out breathy sighs and tiny moans, he bit her, just a little bit. She moaned. He bit harder.

“Gods. I -”

He bit harder still, which shut her up, held for a moment, then let go and moved down her neck.

“Please…”

He’d gotten to her collarbone and shoulder, scraping the fly over his erection into her as he scooted down in the bed. He kissed down the slope of her skin to her nipple, sucked it in, hard.

“ _Oh. Gods…_ ” 

Her hands were flat on his back now, fingers flexed into his skin. He relished the sensation, used the way her fingers moved to figured out what she wanted. He abandoned her breast for the silk underneath, scratched his stubble over her, couldn’t get enough of the shivers that resulted.

He placed little bites on her ribs, held her sides tighter, pushed his thumbs into the soft spot where her ribs ended and her belly began. He went lower still, where her thighs and belly and hips met, and changed tactics. He spread her open with his fingers and licked, lazily, like a cat giving a thorough cleaning. He meandered, as if he had all day to do this, to lick between her legs, listening to the hum and whine of her breath. She reached for his hair, carded her fingers through it, but didn’t pull. Pushed herself up into his mouth, begging for more pressure, more suction, more anything. When her thighs started quivering, he concentrated on her clit. A lick and a kiss. A suck and a swirl. Leisurely savored the taste of her, the way she softened under him, the way she silently pleaded for more.

He brought his other hand up, gliding it along her inner thigh, up under his chin, probing her carefully, sliding all the way in. Another finger and more attention to her clit.

“Oh. _Oh!_ Lee. Lee.”

That was what he’d needed - to know that she was here with _him_ , that he wasn’t just anybody. That he wasn’t Zak.

He pushed up her body, capturing her mouth, his fingers still busy between her legs. She kissed him back hungrily, body in constant motion, pulse pounding just below her skin. His tongue delved into her mouth. Hers snaked around it, a reminder of what she’d offered at the beginning. Maybe.

Her hands were at his waist, pushing and pulling at the button, trying to free him from the confines of his jeans. He put a hand down to stop her and she broke away. “Lee, please.”

“You sure?” He held her eyes as he increased the pressure on her clit, thumb rubbing in tighter circles, fingers advancing and retreating, bringing her closer and closer to the edge.

Her eyes flickered, once, twice, and she said, “Yes. I’m sure.”

He bent to kiss her again, lips accepting the vibration of her moans as she climaxed. Without waiting for her to come down, he fumbled his fly open, pushed his jeans and briefs down and plunged into her. He groaned and had to close his eyes. She was hot and tight around him, muscles still twitching, and he had to make himself move.

“Please, Lee.”

He couldn’t trust himself to say anything in return, so he did what came naturally. In. Out. Slow at first, with the warm velvet of her holding him in thrall, the sleek skin of her thighs smoothing back and forth on his hips. He went faster, harder, listening to her for cues, ruthlessly pushing away the voice that told him every woman that followed wouldn’t quite live up to Kara Thrace.

“Lee, I’m -” The note of entreaty caught at him.

He dropped a hand back between them, fingers sliding easily over the lubricated skin, her clit engorged again, her short, soft moans in his ear spurring him on. He held on long enough to bring her to orgasm a second time, then let go, his face buried in her neck, and the roar of his own blood in his ears shutting out everything for a minute or two.

Before Kara could get restless, he pulled out and turned to sit on the edge of the bed. He stood, stuffing himself back into his pants with his back to the bed.

“Lee. That was -”

“Nice? Glad I could help. Wasn’t my best work, but you didn’t exactly give me a whole lot of notice.” He glanced at her over his shoulder, praying to gods he didn’t believe in that what he was feeling didn’t show in his face. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open, lips swollen, and it was all he could do not to turn back and kiss her again. He snapped his head eyes front, and took a step toward the door. Before he could get there, she was in front of him, hands at his hips, blocking him.

“What’s wrong, Lee? What happened? You were here with me, and then you were gone, and now you feel like you’re already across the parking lot in your car.” 

He chanced a glance at her, and tears were shimmering on her lashes. Her lips were trembling... _Gods._

“I’m sorry.” Her voice shook.

“For what?”

“For forcing this on you. I didn’t mean to make you do something you didn’t want to do.”

He pushed her into the doorjamb and kissed her, hard and fast, then stepped back. “I wanted to. Somewhere underneath everything, you know that. But you’re still in love with my brother, and it’s clouding everything for both of us. You said this was my one and only chance, so I took it. When you’re over Zak and you’re ready for something else, look me up, Kara. I might still be waiting for you.” He walked to the kitchen, snatched his shirt and pulled it over his head as he went to the door. He didn’t look back. He shut it behind him, got in his car, and drove away, not knowing if he would ever hear from her again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara has a double-shot of courage.

Kara sat in the booth, nursing another shot of whiskey, watching the door. She didn’t know why she was here. Lee wasn’t going to show up today any more than he’d shown up any of the other Tuesdays she’d sat here in the last six months.

She pulled the card out of her wallet, the only communication she’d had from Lee since he’d walked out. Her stomach rolled, and she signaled the barmaid for another shot. Her fingers trembled. She didn’t have a choice anymore, and she couldn’t remember ever being so frightened in her entire life, not even that time momma had fallen asleep and started a fire with her stupid cigarette. 

His words echoed in her head. _You’re still in love with my brother, and it’s clouding everything for both of us. You said this was my one and only chance, so I took it. When you’re over Zak and you’re ready for something else, look me up, Kara. I might still be waiting for you._ What if he hadn’t waited? What if he’d met someone, someone better than she could ever be?

Lee wasn’t Zak. He wasn’t using her for anything. He wasn’t like that. Even in her grief and anger after Zak, she’d known that. But what if. What if he was? What if this was some elaborate plan to get back at her for killing his brother? She’d been in love with Zak, but what she felt for Lee was something else altogether - made her blood sing in her veins and her breath catch just thinking about him. 

If he dumped her the way Zak had, it would break her, and she couldn’t imagine how she’d recover from it. Still, the thought of no Lee, ever again...she slapped a hand to her chest against the sudden pain.

What if he’d waited the way he said he would, though? Was she ready for that?

She pulled out her phone and set it on the table next to the card. Fleet voice mailbox. Fleet digital messaging. Personal email. Main ship to shore number on the Atlantia. Cell phone number. He hadn’t left anything to chance. If there was a way to contact him, he’d given it to her. She was overwhelmed.

A shadow fell over the table. “Here’s your drink, hon.” She set the shot down in front of Kara. “Looks like you need a little help there.”

Kara looked up, still mostly in her own little world. “He said he’d wait. But what if he didn’t?”

“Only one way to find out.” She wagged her chin toward the phone on the table, then toward the shot glass. “You gonna need another shot of courage?”

Kara opened her mouth and nothing came out.

“I’m gonna take that as a yes.” The barmaid circled through the few occupied tables, checking on everyone before she picked up another shot and brought it back. “If you don’t ask him, you’ll never know.”

Kara nodded dumbly at the barmaid’s already retreating back. She picked up a shot and downed it. grimaced, and downed the second one. She stacked the shot glasses and picked up her phone. Since she was Active Duty, the messaging app was on her phone. The message would find Lee even if he was on leave somewhere. She typed two words and hit send before she could second-guess herself, then stared at the phone as if he would materialize out of it.

After ten minutes, she stuffed the phone back in her pocket, dropped some cubits on the table and headed out. She could torture herself just as easily at home.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_Sky’s clear._ The message could only have come from one person. Lee looked at it then looked at it again, as if it might have changed in the five seconds he’d looked away. He’d spent far too much time over the last six months thinking about frakking Kara Thrace, and more than a few times, he’d wondered if she had even given him a second thought. He’d heard nothing from her since that day. Question was, what was he going to do about it?

_When can you take leave? I’ve got some time coming up. I can take a couple of weeks._ He stared at the screen after hitting send, illogically hoping she’d respond immediately. He was staring so intently he didn’t notice for a few seconds that she actually had.

_Beginning of next month. I’ve got three weeks. I’m taking them all. You wanna come here, or meet me somewhere?_

Lee’s palms itched and his stomach felt like an entire cadre of Vipers was doing barrel rolls in it. Gods. _I’ll put in my request. I can take three weeks, too, if you want to spend it all with me. I’ll come to you. We can go from there._

He laughed when he got the next message; he could almost see her rolling her eyes at him. _Of course I want to see you, you idiot._

_Should I bring anything?_

_Yourself, you frakker. And maybe some Picon Fire Whiskey. And leave your godsdamn uniform aboard._

He snorted. _Wilco._

_You’ll let me know if your leave gets approved? And when you’re coming in?_

_I should know in a couple of days, and I’ll make the transport arrangements as soon as I get the approval._

_I’m taking leave with or without you, so you tell your Commander that._

_Right. “Starbuck says she’s taking leave whether I show up or not, and we should really avoid pissing her off.”_

_What? It could work._

_*laughs* I’ll see you in a couple of weeks, Kara._

_Okay._

The cursor blinked, and he fixed his eyes on that “Okay” as if it held the meaning of life. He was surprised when another message popped up.

_I’ve missed you, Lee. Don’t answer that. Frak. Just…never mind._

His smile widened as he stared at the screen. She’d missed him. Kara Thrace had missed him. He shut down the program and hurried to find the XO’s aide; the sooner he filled out the leave request, the sooner it would be granted.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Give Her What She Wants](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1914966) by [lanalucy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy)




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